VISTA: School board endorses STEM education plan

The Vista Unified School District board agreed to prioritize science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, education during its meeting Thursday.

Administrators, prompted by a request from the school board in April, gave a presentation Thursday about the importance of the STEM curriculum for the schools in the district and across the country.

Engineering is the most crucial element of STEM, said Kathy Williams, director of mathematics for Vista Unified.

"Being literate in math and science means having to know more than how to do computation," Williams said. "They have to know how to take that and apply that in the real world."

According to the U.S. Department of Labor's 10-year employment projections, 15 of the 20 fastest-growing occupations by 2014 have significant math requirements.

In an analysis of Vista Unified students, four out of every 10 students are enrolled in science classes for college or pre-college credit during their junior year in high school. Of those four, just two students tested "proficient" in their California standardized testing.

Williams outlined a districtwide STEM implementation plan, which included such broad goals as community collaboration and communication, recognizing STEM skills throughout content areas, and increasing technology available for classroom use.

School officials were unclear about the funding for STEM education.

Trustee Jim Gibson said the way to start STEM education is to teach students the basics.

"You don't have to teach them to be a network engineer in the ninth grade," Gibson said. "But you have to teach them math to understand algorithms. The world is getting more and more technical."